Presented by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC and Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC

Adam Bold Invests in People

Where do people go when they want investment advice, but they don’t have enough stash to get the big firms to talk? The Mutual Fund Store was Adam Bold’s answer—and his middle-of-the-night epiphany.

“I don’t sleep much,” Adam Bold told a crowd of 71 at April’s Entrepreneur Speakers Program. The monthly program is sponsored by Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus PC and the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “Often my best ideas come between the hours of 3 and 7 a.m.”

In those wee hours one night in 1996, Bold dreamed up a fee-based, rather than commission-based, investment advisory firm that would focus on the “mass affluent,” investors with $50,000 to $500,000 who had been, at best, left to their own devices or “abandoned and abused” by other investment firms.

The Mutual Fund Store “gives ‘normal’ people access to that quality investment advice the rich have had,” said Bold.

Bold left his job as a stockbroker and moved the dream into his basement and then over the next decade into 54 locations and 46 markets nationwide. Along the way, he started a Saturday radio show, “The Mutual Fund Show”; authored The Bold Truth about Mutual Funds; and co-founded Smart401K that advises individuals on how to best plan their retirement investing.

With the radio show and book, Bold has successfully set himself up as an investment expert. But he admits that he’s not omnipotent.

“I’m good at picking investments and teaching others what those mean,” he said. “As an entrepreneur, you have to know what you do best. And then hire others to do the rest. I could have trial-and-errored my way through business,” but instead Bold decided to hire people who complemented his talents.

Earlier in April, he hired David Byers, former H&R Block COO of retail tax services, to man the Mutual Fund Store’s helm as its CEO.

Hiring good people, and compensating them well, has paid off for the Mutual Fund Store.

“In 11 years, not one person has quit,” said Bold, and that loyalty and dedication has helped Bold grow the Mutual Fund Store into the first nationally branded firm of its kind. In the next year, the Mutual Fund Store plans to expand its operation, managing some $4 billion in client assets and opening approximately two stores a month in the next year.

With each step, Bold said, he thought about how best to reach and serve his now 14,000 clients.

In 2002, he doubled his advertising budget, capitalizing on investor angst by suggesting, “If you’re bad at your broker, consider the Mutual Fund Store.” He followed awareness with service, making sure to spell out what clients could expect from the Mutual Fund Store and then delivering it.

“If you do what’s right for your customers,” Bold has learned, “it ends up doing right for you.”

About ESP

The Entrepreneur Speakers Program, held monthly throughout the year, brings the region’s most innovative business leaders to UMKC to discuss ideas and opportunities. The series highlights experiences, lessons learned and unique issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the creation of a new enterprise. 

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